toyguy's Blog at LumberJocks.comhttp://lumberjocks.com/toyguy/blog
Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:59:08 GMTSteady as she goeshttp://lumberjocks.com/toyguy/blog/13485
For some time now I have thought about making myself a steady rest….. So, today I did just that. Plans for these type of rest are abundant on the inter-web. I read a couple of construction articles, then went to the shop to see what I ended up with. One very good article can be found here:

Constructed of 3/4” ply, hard maple and some wheels off some casters. I had wanted to use in line Rollerblade wheels, but none could be had that were with-in my budget. I looked at some of my old Radio Controlled Airplane wheels, but think they were just too soft, and large. Anyway, these caster wheels will do the trick, and were very cheap. The big orange box stores will have them.

The following pictures show the completed rest on it’s maiden voyage. Set up in a spindle configuration, using an old 1” dowel. It seems to work very well. Really stopped the whip that is so often the case in this type of turning. I don’t think I will be using it in this type of set-up very much, but it’s nice to know I can. Reversing (flipping over) one of the legs will allow me to get in on even thiner diameters. I see me using this more in the hollowing of longer pieces such as vases, and maybe some segmented things. .... as well as bowls.

The left over cut-outs will be made into a donut chuck….. or maybe a longworths….when I get around to it….

For some time now I have been drawn towards the dark side of wood work. Like a number of individuals, that twirling of wood has created some kind of vortex that is sucking me right in. You might say I have seen a light, and I am moving into it.

When I first caught this bug, I figured I would want to do some small stuff such as pens and bottle stoppers, the kind of stuff that we see here and on other web sites everyday. So my first look at a wood lathe was in the mini size category. I saw many a nice machine that would fill this need just fine. But in the back of my head was a thought; will I be happy with the limitations of such a machine. The more I looked into wood turning the more I felt that a bigger machine would be in order. After all, like it is often said; buy more and grow into it.

So now my search moved to bigger and better machines. The first thing I found out was that these machines did not fit my budget. No problem, I’ll buy a previous enjoyed unit was my thinking. I had a good look within my search area, both on Craig’s list and Kijiji. There were a lot of lathes available, most not worth owning. I do not like to buy junk; this just makes no sense to me at all. I wanted a machine to work with, not work on. But, being a thrifty type of guy (CHEAP), I did go look at a few of these. There is a lot of older Delta’s that interested me. The fact that these are still around and going strong proves they were built well. One that was right in my ball park for wants needs and cost was listed not to far from me. Unfortunately it was sold on my way to look at it. After reading up on these older machines and looking at the old tools web pages I found some of the parts for these Rockwell lathes can get mighty costly.

Still looking at the used lathe that were available, I widen my search area. I found a couple of used General 160&260 models; also very well built machine. Seems General has been making these monsters for ever, and still are. I guess they figure if it works don’t mess with it. Well surfing the net one night I found an upcoming auction that had a 160 variable speed model up for grabs. I had never been to an auction before, but this machine look to be everything I wanted. Well, all I can say is that this was an adventure; I got out bid. In hind site, I probably should have gotten off my wallet and stayed in, but it was that darn budget I wanted to stay within. I also went and looked at another 160 I found on Kijiji. The picture looked good, but there were many parts missing. I priced some of the parts and found it would cost as much update this one as it would just to buy something that was all there, and this seller wanted way to much for it. There were a couple of other 160 advertised, but did not have the VS, which I truly did want to have.

While all my searching was going on in the used market; I continued to search out the new stuff being offered as well. I must admit, I do like buying things new. I am a bit of a technology freak. I was looking at a Nova 1624.and the bigger Jet models. I really liked these machines and the reviews they were getting. They are priced well, but were still over my budget. Also, being in Canada causes problems getting one. I guess I could just jump over to Buffalo, it’s only an hour’s drive, but then there is the boarder and customs to deal with.

Then as luck would have it, this past weekend I saw an ad for a General International 25-650.

This unit was a bit out of my price range, but was being offered at a fair exchange. After a couple of hours of whining to my wife she agreed to a small increase in the budget.(got love that girl) I sent off an e-mail to the owner and set up a viewing time. It looked to be everything I wanted. Some discussion on price, payment made and I loaded it in the truck. Now I am truly one step closer to that dark side.

The GI 25-650 I bought is approximately one year old. I am told that it has only been driven once or twice by a little old man before he passed away. By the condition of the unit I see no reason to dispute this. This unit is powered by a 1 ½ HP AC motor with phase converter. In my opinion this is the best way of handling variable speed. In addition to this the mechanical step pulley allows you to maintain torque at low r.p.m. I have a couple of General products in my work shop and have been very, very happy with them. This will be my first General International. And as it is made off shore, I do have my concerns about this lathe. Time will only tell.

Also included in the sale was the 18 inch bed extension. At this point, I don’t really see a use for this, but what the heck; it was included. Also included was 8 Marple turning tools. These don’t look all that great to me. I believe this is a cheap set of boxed tools that are high carbon steel. The handles are some form of hardwood and are quite nice. I think these tools will be replaced; however for now they will get me started and be used to learn sharpening technique. As stated before, I will most likely be doing mostly smaller turning for now. I do want to get into more of the bowl type turning seen here so much. I believe this machine will allow me that as time and experience grows. The stand on this machine seems a bit undersized to me for the larger turnings; but I’ll deal with that when the time arrives. The current price on this machine through the General dealers is set at $2129 here in Canada. I paid about half of that.

One step closer to being a twirler; Now to set up a sharpening center, and join up with the local turner’s guild.

My new addition below……. click on thumb nail for full view

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Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:22:01 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/toyguy/blog/6736toyguytoyguy11 day of the 11 month, 11 am Lest We Forget http://lumberjocks.com/toyguy/blog/6397
Taken from another web site: I find this quite fitting for today, remembrance day :

Quote:

On November 11, 1999 Terry Kelly was in a drug store in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. At 10:55 AM an announcement came over the store’s PA asking customers who would still be on the premises at 11:00 AM to give two minutes of silence in respect to the veterans who have sacrificed so much for us.

Terry was impressed with the store’s leadership role in adopting the Legion’s “two minutes of silence” initiative. He felt that the store’s contribution of educating the public to the importance of remembering was commendable.When eleven o’clock arrived on that day, an announcement was again made asking for the “two minutes of silence” to commence. All customers, with the exception of a man who was accompanied by his young child, showed their respect.Terry’s anger to wards the father for trying to engage the store’s clerk in conversation and for setting a bad example for his child was channeled into a beautiful piece of work called, “A Pittance of Time”. Terry later recorded “A Pittance of Time” and included it on his full-length music CD, “The Power of the Dream”.

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Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:19:04 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/toyguy/blog/6397toyguytoyguyExpanding Tablehttp://lumberjocks.com/toyguy/blog/3840
I came upon these little videos and was truly amazed. The engineering and craftsmanship that went into this project is just unbelievable. I thought I would share it with the lumberjocks community where I know it could be appreciated. ENJOY !

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Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:48:23 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/toyguy/blog/3840toyguytoyguyModeling in Wood #4: Fendershttp://lumberjocks.com/toyguy/blog/3166
First I must apologize for taking so much time between bogs. It seems that shop time has been very difficult to arrange as of late. What with Christmas, time out to build a 2×4 bi-plane, try a band saw box, (both for the LJ winter contest) a weeks vacation in the Dominican Republic, then returning to a sick Mom, and life in general it seems like an awfully long time since I have touched my motor cycle project. Well, I think I might be back on track now.

First thing today was to reacquaint myself with the project. This reminded me that I must be out of my mind to even attempt it, but what Lumberjack isn’t up to a challenge? After looking over things I felt the next step would be to build the drive belt/sprocket pieces. Not too much to this other than the small size to work with. As can be seen in the following photo, this laminated from 2 round 1/8” maple discs with a 1/8” walnut belt. Although hard to see in the picture, the inside of the belt has some saw kerfs cut into it to reproduce a rib affect. Then another 1/8” piece of maple for the outside guard.

The next step was to build the fenders. I wanted to make sure that the fenders and the gas tank would stand out on the finished project. I know that when I look at a full size Harley the colors of the tank and fenders always catch my eye. So I found a piece of Pauamarello (yellow heart) which I think will do the job. After checking the plan a few times it became quite apparent that the fenders were going to cause me some grieve.

The fenders fit over the wheels and are 1 ½” wide. Cutting a left and a right side out of ¾” stock should do the job. It’s the inside radius that will give me trouble. The easiest way would be to drill a 3 1/8” flat hole 9/16” into my stock thus creating a side piece, but I don’t have a drill that big and I’m not going to buy one for just one job. So I had to find plan” B”. First I cut a center section about 3/16” thick using a radius of 3 1/8”. This was just not quite wide enough to span the wheel. No problem, I’ll add more to it after I cut the sides. The left and right sides were cut from a piece of ¾” stock. Then I used the band saw to slice 2 side pieces about an 1/8” think. The left over was then cut to the 3 1/8” radius and the whole thing glued together. After the glue had kicked, the fender was then final shaped on the belt-disc sander and my dermal tool. The picture will show what I mean better than trying to write about it.

I have only made the rear fender at this time. The front will be constructed in much the same manner. The big difference with the front is that it will be supported by brackets leading to the front axel. This will also cause me some grieve, but I believe this same plan will work for it as well. I might just need 2 center sections.

That’s it for today guys. Not sure when I’ll get back to the saw dust factory, but one thing is for sure, I will finish this project…… Someday! LOL.

Click for full view.

Note: the rear fender is just sitting on the wheel for trial fitting. It will be attached to the frame at a latter date.

Frustration has begun to set in. The springer front forks for this model are so tiny it is hard to handle them without breaking. The parts are cut from ¾” material using both the top and side view much like the frame was. You cut the rear sections first, remembering there is a left and a right side. If there is any holes to be drilled in the piece make sure you do that first, as trying after cutting the shape will result in a bunch of toothpicks. Took me two tries to figure that one out.

Now that you have the two back pieces drilled and cut to shape, you can go ahead and glue them. While the glue is drying you will need to cut the front part of the springer front end. This part is cut from a piece 1/8” material. Not much to this, just cut it out using the front view. To try and make the springs look a bit more realistic, use a razor saw to score the wood. This works out pretty good and after a bit of sanding will generally give you the look you are looking for.

Now just cut the joiner pieces drill some holes and slide them on. The top triple tree has a couple of 1/16” holes. I stick a round tooth pick in them and leave them extend a 1/16 or so. Looks like nuts on a stud.

Glue the parts together and you are ready to fit the springer front end to the frame. As on most motorcycles the front end is chrome. For this reason and because of the size of the parts I chose to use a nice clear white maple. I can see a lot more of this board going towards the making of this model.

The picture below shows the springer front end trial fitted to the frame and front wheel. Also you can see the rear wheel has also been fitted, just missing the belt drive and guard. That will be made next, then on to the fenders and gas tank.

When building a model you must keep in mind what the finished project will look like. Wood selection is very important unless you plan on painting or some other means of coloring your toy. I don’t like to do anything other than some spray lacquer. So I use the color of the wood as my palette.

Today I started my frame for the motor cycle. I needed a very dark color of wood to do it justice. I also had to take into account that the parts for the frame are very small and odd shaped. So a tight grain, dense material would also be needed. I went to out local exotic woods dealer, and in trade for my soul, a small piece of ¾” Wenge was traded. This wood is not cheap, but what the heck, I don’t need too much anyway.

To construct the parts for the frame is really pretty easy. The plans show both top views and side views in full size to make life a lot easier. The main frame part is cut from ¾” material, as is the backbone. The swing arms are cut from ½”. And the center post is ¼” square. To cut the pieces you can mark the wood using the full size views. There is many different ways of doing this, but for this I will only tell of my method. I photo-copy the views needed with my all in one printer. Then cut them out with a pair of scissors. Using a glue sick I apply them to the material that I have already cut to a block on the table saw. Now all you have to do is go to the band saw and remove everything that is not frame. When dealing with odd shapes, sometimes it is necessary to cut the side view first. Then tape the cutouts back where they came from to cut the top view. Look at the following picture to see what I mean. Any of the paper that is left on the piece can be removed with a heat gun and a scrapper.

This picture shows the frame pieces cut out and ready to be sanded. (I really hate Sanding) and then assembled. In the back you can also see the wheels from yesterday. Note they now have the disc brake and hub attached.

This model is not an easy build. But I am going to keep on it. Next I guess will be to complete the frame and start the springer front end. Till next time.

Click for full view

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Thu, 13 Dec 2007 23:00:05 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/toyguy/blog/2779toyguytoyguyModeling in Wood #1: Toy Motor Cyclehttp://lumberjocks.com/toyguy/blog/2759
First let me tell ya, I’m no expert at this building Models /Toys/ Replicas, And I certainly am not a craftsman woodworker like some here….Self taught and just enjoying the hobby.. But I do like to build models. As an after thought, I’m going to try and give day by day reports on my current build. That is if I don’t loose my sanity before I’m done…....

Toy Motor Cycle

Those that know me at all know I love to build small wood models. In fact, lately, that’s about all I have been building. About 5 years ago I acquired a plan for a motor cycle. One good look at this plan and it was put away for another day. This plan is a bit vague and leaves lots to the imagination. Not to mention that it is also just wrong in spots. Anyway, today I started to build it.

When starting a new project I like to get the hard parts over with as soon as I can. One of the trouble areas of this build is the wheels. It took me all day but I now have a useable pair of wheels.

As luck would have it, a couple of weeks back while in a craft shop, I came across some 2 inch diameter laser cut wagon wheels. They are a 1/8” thick, and look to me to be just the ticket to use as spokes for my motor cycle wheels. After getting them I was right, I would just need to make a rim and tire.

In the picture to follow, you can see all the parts for one wheel, as well as a completed wheel. I used two of the laser cut ply wheels I had bought, with a ¼”spacer between them. Then I added a 1/8” ring to both sides. This completes the rim. Now all I needed was a tire to fit over the rim.

The rings for the rim were cut from maple and the tire was cut from walnut. To do this I used my new circle cutter chucked in the drill press. Then to the sanding drum and next the disc & belt sander for final shaping. Lots of hand sanding too. The tire treads were cut on the band saw, holding the tire against the fence and rotating.

When all is said and done, I think these little wheels are going to work on this motor cycle quite well. There is still a lot of trouble coming my way. Next feat will be to complete the Frame and Springer front end.

Hammer - In ancient times a hammer was used to inflict pain on one’s enemies. Modern hammers are used to inflict pain on oneself.

Screwdriver – The drink ordered at the local bar after you call in a professional repairman to undo the $500 in damage you did while trying to change out a light socket with your handy screwdriver.

Phillips Screwdriver - The bar drink that you order when the damage estimate is over $1,000. Contains twice the vodka.

Pliers - A device used to extend your reach the necessary few inches when you drop a one-of-a-kind screw down behind the new wall it took you two weeks to install.

Multi-Pliers - Contain a handy assortment of sharp and dangerous tools. Best left in it’s leather sheath and worn on a homeowner’s belt to increase testosterone levels.

Electronic Stud Finder - An annoying device that never goes off when you point it at yourself.

Halogen Light - A worklight that lights up your backyard with the incandescence of a football stadium, causing you to cast a heavy shadow over the area you’re working on so that you need to use a flashlight anyway.

Air Compressor - A mechanical device similar in principal to harnessing the power of your mother-in-law’s nagging complaints and using the resulting airflow to blast old paint off the side of the house.

Chainsaw – Allows you to cut your way out of the shed that you accidentally built completely around yourself.

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Thu, 29 Nov 2007 20:37:28 GMThttp://lumberjocks.com/toyguy/blog/2632toyguytoyguyLet Me Introduce myselfhttp://lumberjocks.com/toyguy/blog/2594
I guess I started woodworking as a small child, following my Dad around his shop. I still remember the smells and sounds of the machines. Guess I was hooked at a young age.

Making model airplanes,,wood but sometimes plastic too was my first start with tools. Funny thing is that I have never stopped.

As life would have it, I found myself too busy to keep up with the woodworking. Family demands left me outside of the workshop looking in. Then one day my wife said I should get a hobby. As I had always loved building models and also airplanes, it was only natural that I got involved with radio control model airplanes. For the next 20 years that was it…... Giant Scale RC planes…..

Just as things do, changes were about to happen to my life once more. My Dad passed away and all though wood working machines fell into my possession. Then a friend introduced me to the Toys and Joys wood working plans. That was a couple of years ago now, and I have never looked back. Then this past summer, my place of employment suggested I take a bunch of money and leave. The thought of going on pension was too much to resist. Now, the smells and noise of my youth surrounds me again.

I love to build replicas in wood. Classic cars, trucks, that kind of thing. I recently designed a web page to show of my new love, and maybe sell the odd piece. I really am having fun, combining my toy building and web page stuff….... and like the wife says..it keeps me out of trouble.

You can have a look at my web album from my page: Lots more to come ..LOL

I just joined this group. Looks like my kind of place. I see there is a couple of other toy makers here as well. You can be sure I’ll be talking to you guys soon. If anyone is interested, I started a forum/message board for us toy makers. I would be glad to see some of you stop by and join up. Not taking anything away from this group…...It’s awsome here, so much that you can do….. But for the simple toy maker, this site might be of interest.The Saw Dust Factory

Finally….... Comment on LumberJocks…... This place is like Facebook, but for us old guys with sawdust in our viens…... I’m here to stay.